Mobile

Mojax: Mobile Ajax Framework

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Mojax is a framework that provides the best of Ajax but on a mobile platform.

John leads developer relations for Mojax. He can be reached at jmuchow@mfoundry.com or visit his blog at 360Mobile.us.

Mojax, short for "Mobile Ajax," is a framework that leverages the technologies that make Ajax a compelling platform for web development (JavaScript, CSS, and XML) and extends them to mobile applications. Mojax applications (moblets) run as native code on a device and are not limited to the constraints of running within a web browser. Mojax applications support development of "plugins" that can access device capabilities such as location services, contacts, audio, and video.

To get started with Mojax development, go to mojax.mfoundry.com. Here you will find documentation, tutorials, and information on how to install an Eclipse plug-in that is designed for developing and testing Mojax applications.

To show how you can use the Mojax framework, I present a sample application that searches for and displays real-estate property information. The entire application consists of a 212-line source-code file, a 78-line style sheet, and a 36-line XSLT filter. (The complete source code is available online at www.ddj.com/code/.)

The sample application is built around the Zillow.com API (www.zillow.com), which offers a comprehensive set of interfaces for accessing real-estate property information. Figure 1 is the Mojax application I present here. (You get one guess as to whose house this is. Hint: The state and the valuation should give it away.)

Figure 1: Main screen.

When running the application, clicking on the Search option lets you specify the street address, city, and state of the property you want to search for. If the address that you enter is found, the main screen displays the updated property information; if the search fails, a message is returned.

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